Authoritarianism, Democracy, and Development

Abstract

During the past decade, Howard J. Wiarda has established himself as a prolific analyst of corporatism, democracy, authoritarianism, and development in Latin America. His views have been influential in shaping and legitimating U.S. policies toward Latin America both before and during the Reagan revolution. While others may have produced theories of democracy and a transition from authoritarianism that unconsciously complement the Reagan administration's practical policies and imperialist interests, Wiarda's contribution has been directly and self-consciously motivated by policy concerns. From his position at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, as director of Latin American programs at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), and in close personal contacts with contemporary U.S. policymakers (especially in the State Department), Wiarda has become a key intellectual figure in the early and ongoing effort to clothe a decidedly militaristic and hegemonistic policy in the garb of peace and democracy. It is my contention that Wiarda's theories of corporatism, national development, and democracy are inextricably interrelated and together form the intellectual foundation upon which defenders of corporation capitalism attempt to erect their support of bourgeois power and imperialist intervention. Corporatism and National Development (1981) qualifies as Wiarda's theoretical magnum opus: it is a grand synthesis of essays written during the 1970s and provides a theoretical basis for the various articles collected in anthologies dealing with the issues of human rights and democracy (Wiarda, 1980, 1982). Building upon his corporatism model, the essays contained in The Continuing Strugglefor Democracy (1980)